


the redheads of sound

by chadsuke



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 01:32:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18561214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chadsuke/pseuds/chadsuke
Summary: Tayuya lives and Karin cuts a deal.





	the redheads of sound

“Excuse me,” says a quiet voice, and Tayuya forces herself to sit up, eyes narrowed and ignoring the pain. There’s a girl at the door - another redhead, around her age, and she looks nervous and frightened and Tayuya knows looks are deceiving as hell.

“What do you want?” She snaps, hand curling around her kunai. Tayuya had barely - _barely_ \- managed to make it here, her legs smashed and she had basically had to crawl the whole way back. She had been the only survivor. Even Kimimaro, that immortal freak of a ninja, had finally been done in by that sickness mid fight.

But Tayuya had lived, Tayuya had dragged herself back by her hands, and Tayuya had been so relieved to see the Uchiha here because Orochimaru doesn’t tolerate failures, and now?

Now, Tayuya wasn’t about to get killed by this little bitch.

“I wanted… I wanted to make a deal with you,” the girl says softly, taking a small step in and closing the door behind her, and Tayuya’s hand goes white-knuckled on her weapon.

Orochimaru hadn’t healed her, of course. No need to waste resources on her when she had been beaten so thoroughly - he hasn’t even given her a second glance since she got back and it _burns_ \- and it meant she was vulnerable to anyone who wanted to take her out of the running.

Her punishment, she supposes.

So this girl’s statement makes her hesitate, because honestly if this girl tried to kill her, she’d probably win. “What kind of deal,” Tayuya says.

The girl hesitates and rolls up her sleeve, revealing bite scars that crisscross every which way and Tayuya’s eyebrows shoot up. “If you bite me, I can heal you,” she says. “Not all at once, but… a week, maybe.”

That literally sounded way too perfect to be true, and Tayuya frowns. “So what do you want from **me**?”

“Protection,” says the other girl immediately. “I can’t fight - and maybe training, too. I would…” She hesitates again, considering - clearly one new to Sound, or she wouldn’t be this expressive. “I would keep healing you, too, after your missions and stuff.”

Huh. Incentive to keep her alive after the initial healing - clever. Tayuya **had** been tempted to agree and then slit her throat the second she was healed. But as it is…

Right now, Tayuya’s screwed. There’s no two ways about that. Anyone who has a grudge against her can slaughter her now, and unless she manages to convince Kabuto to help her, the only way she’ll get healing will be to physically drag herself out of the base, which will leave her **very** vulnerable. This is really the only logical choice.

“Fine,” Tayuya says, and with a flick of her fingers, she dissolves the genjutsu traps the girl would have been caught in if she stepped any closer. “What’s your name?”

The girl had startled, and Tayuya wonders if she could tell the traps were there - because now she easily strides forward, presenting her arm. “My name’s Karin,” she says softly, bracing herself.

“Tayuya,” she replies, and she bites.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
> you can find me on tumblr as ‘ftcoye’, where I take Drabble requests. Thank you!


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